High School Football:

Mineral Springs, Linden-Kildare in the spotlight,

LINDEN, Texas—The Tigers performed when it mattered the most.

With the game knotted at 26-all with just over 11 minutes left in the fourth quarter, Linden-Kildare head coach Derek Simmons told his players that the fourth quarter would decide the game.

“We knew whoever played best in the second half would win,” Simmons said. “The team that could limit mistakes, turnovers and penalties would win. Our defense did a great job in the second half. We were down by a point early in the fourth quarter, and our message to the team was that whoever wins the fourth quarter will win the game.”

Linden-Kildare put a drive together in the

fourth and capped it with a one-yard touchdown run by quarterback Jacob Owen, who made his first varsity start.

“Jacob threw the ball lights out,” Simmons said. “We ended up throwing it 26 times in the first half. We couldn’t get our running game going early. Red Tyson did well as our slot receiver and had four catches. We had a lot of guys that we knew were capable, but we didn’t know for sure until we game in that game situation.”

Owen ended his night with 161 yards of passing as he hit on 11 of 13 attempts and did not throw an interception.

Running back LaDavion Johnson rushed for 140 yards to lead L-K.

“LaDavion had some big runs and made some big catches for us,” Simmons said. “He had a good allaround game.”

Receiver Ty Patterson played in about 80 percent of the offensive snaps. Patterson led the Tigers in receptions and receiving yards.

“We are trying to get Ty more involved offensively,” Simmons said. “Ty and the offensive line continue to get better.”

Patterson also started on defense at linebacker and sealed the Tigers’ victory with a 99-yard fumble return for a touchdown with 12 seconds left in the game.

“Ty had one of the best defensive performances that I have been involved in as a head coach,” Simmons said. “He was in on two fumbles, had an interception, was in on the goal-line stand, and had around 20 tackles. Everything for us on defense starts up front.”

Linden-Kildare was well disciplined throughout the contest as they had just two penalties for 25 yards.

The Tigers host Clarksville at 7:30 on Friday.